"No matter what the Marquis (young master) orders, we will strictly abide by it!"
In the conference room of Yanhuang Academy, when Li Zexuan said, "This is a major matter related to the life and death of more than 80,000 people in Lantian County," County Magistrate He, Hu Hanyun, Liu Erye, and Liu Qingfeng couldn't help but sit up straight and look at it with serious faces. Said to Li Zexuan.
Li Zexuan nodded and began to make arrangements: "County Magistrate He, after you return to the county office, you immediately send the government officials to post notices to calm the people, not only in the city, but also in all villages outside the city! The contents of the notices are documented. My husband and Mr. Kong Gui are helping you draft it, you can take it to the workshop to make a few hundred copies and take them back!"
Magistrate He quickly raised his hands and said: "I obey the order!"
Li Zexuan nodded and continued: "In addition, the Commerce Department is ordered to inform all grain merchants in Lantian County that during the recent period, it is strictly prohibited to raise grain prices. Violators will be recorded on the Commerce Department's blacklist and will be dispatched immediately." If you leave Lantian County, you will never be allowed to do business in Lantian County again!"
Magistrate He hesitated and said, "Master Marquis, will this anger the grain merchants and cause them to move out of Lantian County collectively?"
Li Zexuan sneered and said: "Since I dare to say these words, I am not afraid of them withdrawing from Lantian County! In the granary at the foot of Yunshan Mountain, 50,000 shi of grain were hidden last year, and there were more than 80,000 people in Lantian County. Even if it is divided equally , each person can get nearly 70 kilograms, and they can survive for three or four months even if they eat less. When the autumn harvest comes, will you still worry about not having food? Besides, didn't the official warehouse in Lantian County store food last year? "
County Magistrate He couldn't help but breathed a sigh of relief when Li Zexuan said that there were 50,000 shi of grain stored in Yunshan. However, after hearing Li Zexuan's questions, Magistrate He's heart suddenly sank, and he wiped the scars on his forehead. Khan, cautiously said:
"Well, Lord Marquis, the official warehouses in Lantian County can only hold seven or eight thousand shi of grain in total. Last year's harvest was not good, and the people did not turn in much grain, so the official warehouses were not full, only We bought about four thousand shi of food!”
When Li Zexuan heard this, he couldn't help but said angrily: "Last year, the imperial court went south to exchange for grain. The merchants brought back so much grain that the price of grain in the capital almost fell to the bottom. The Lantian County government did not spend any money to purchase grain. ?”
County magistrate He was so ashamed that he said with shame: "This... no! The Guanzhong area is nourished by the Yellow River and has fertile water and soil. Basically, it rarely encounters disaster years. Besides, even if it encounters disaster years, there is Taicang on the side of Chang'an City. Luoyang has Hanjiacang, so there is no need to worry about food, so there is no precedent for states and counties to specifically spend money to purchase and store food!"
"You~!"
Li Zexuan was really pissed off, but in the final analysis, the county magistrate could not be blamed for this matter. Who knew that when the imperial court returned from the south with its fleet last year, Li Zexuan was not the lord of Lantian County? Otherwise, all the granaries in Lantian County will definitely be filled to capacity under Li Zexuan's orders!
"That's all! Let's not mention this matter for the time being! But I hope you will remember in the future that you need to be strong enough to forge iron. Don't expect others to save you when you encounter trouble. You have to rely on yourself to save yourself! The Tang Dynasty has a vast territory, with three hundred prefectures and counties. Many, like the current locust plague, there are at least dozens of prefectures and counties that the court wants to rescue. If we just wait for the government to rescue us, how many more people will starve to death?"
Li Zexuan sighed, and then said sternly.
County Magistrate He repeatedly raised his hands and said: "Master Hou taught me this lesson! Your subordinates must remember Master Hou's teachings!"
Li Zexuan saw this and did not continue to reprimand him. After all, Magistrate He still wanted to save face as a county official. He turned to say: "The Department of Commerce must be resolute in curbing the rise in food prices. Except for Yunshan, In addition to the food, I can also mobilize the Yanhuang Chamber of Commerce to transport food to the south! So you don’t have to worry about the food problem!"
Magistrate He breathed a sigh of relief and nodded: "Yes! Lord Marquis!"
Li Zexuan thought for a while, then looked at Li Gang and Yan Silu, and said: "Mr. Wenji, Mr. Kong Gui, among the notices posted, this article must be added. From today on, the Lantian County government will begin to People can buy locusts for one penny or two pounds, no limit!"
Li Gang and Yan Silu couldn't help but be shocked when they heard this. Magistrate He, who was sitting under Li Zexuan, couldn't help but exclaimed: "Master Hou! You must not do it! With this overwhelming locust, you can just send people there..." If you pick them up, you can pick up more than ten kilograms in one day. If all the people in Lantian County went to pick up locusts, wouldn't they be able to pick up hundreds of thousands of kilograms in one day?"
Li Zexuan couldn't help but said: "This locust is not dead. How can it lie there and let others catch it? It is not easy for one person to catch ten kilograms of locusts in one day! Besides, even if so many are caught, the county government must follow them. Accept the entire order, don’t worry, I will pay for it!"
Magistrate He was speechless, thinking that if you have money, you can't waste it like this!
Little did he know that Li Zexuan bought the locusts for one penny and two pounds. Not only would he not lose money, he would actually make a fortune!
Li Zexuan didn't care what County Magistrate He was thinking, he continued: "In fact, it is a good idea to release grain to help the people! The people have been working hard in the fields for half a year, and it is almost time to harvest, but With the locust plague ushering in, their efforts are about to be wiped out, which is quite unfair to them! Therefore, the top priority is to provide disaster relief, not to open warehouses to release grain!"
Hearing this, everyone couldn't help but nodded!
In fact, even if all the crops in the field are eaten by locusts, there is no need to open warehouses immediately to help the people, because people generally have a certain amount of surplus food at home, and the consequences of the locust plague will take ten and a half months. can show up.
"Uncle Hu, last year I asked Hu Jingran and Hu Guoran to teach the children on the farm how to control the chickens. How did it go?"
Li Zexuan looked at Hu Hanyun and asked.
Hu Hanyun quickly replied: "Master, not only the children from Hanjiazhuang, but also the children from Meicun Village later came to study! And the children from both Zhuangzi finally passed the assessment and received the bonus set by you, Master!"
"How many chickens do the two Zhuangzi have in total now?"
Li Zexuan asked again.
Hu Hanyun thought for a while and replied: "There are probably 75,000 chickens in Hanjiazhuang!"
Liu Qingfeng then replied: "There are a total of 74,000 in Plum Village!"
Since these two Zhuangzi became Li Zexuan's fief earlier, Li Zexuan spent his own money to buy about 80,000 chickens for the two Zhuangzi respectively. Now it seems that the survival rate is above 80%, which means that those farmers helped him raise them. The chicken is really attentive!
Li Zexuan nodded and said: "That adds up to nearly 150,000! Okay! Uncle Hu, Liu Erye, Liu Lizheng, you should go back to Zhuangzi immediately, gather the children, and divide them into thirty teams, each with five people. Thousands of chickens swept across the farmland of more than 80 villages in Lantian County from north to south, quickly eliminating most of the locusts in all the fields in Lantian County!"
"What? Let the chickens eat locusts? Master, is this method reliable?"
After hearing this, everyone was stunned for a while, and Lao Hu also said in surprise.
Li Zexuan smiled and explained: "Of course it's reliable! I once read a book, which said that an adult chicken can eat up to more than three hundred locusts a day. Twenty chickens can almost guarantee that there will be no locusts in an acre of field. Locusts, we organize five thousand chickens into a team, and we can clean up all the locusts in the two hundred acres of fields in almost half an hour! Uncle Hu, please go back to the village now to gather the children to start action. Before it gets dark, say We may be able to clear tens of thousands of acres of fertile farmland, and in two days, we will be able to clear away all the locusts in the farmland in Lantian County!"
Although they didn't know which book Li Zexuan read these fallacies, out of blind trust in Li Zexuan, everyone still chose to believe it. Hearing the frequent nods, County Magistrate He couldn't help but frown and said:
"Master Hou! Chickens not only eat locusts, but also wheat! In this way, the locusts will be eliminated, but the wheat will also be harmed!"
Li Zexuan glanced at him indifferently and said: "County Magistrate He, I believe Uncle Hu can answer this question for you!"
"Well..."
Magistrate He looked stunned and couldn't help but cast his eyes on Hu Hanyun.
Lao Hu scratched his head. This question was not easy to answer. If he said it too bluntly, it would probably hurt Magistrate He's self-esteem. Magistrate He was, after all, the parent official of a county. Although Lao Hu would not do anything that violated laws and regulations. Ji asked Magistrate He to take care of Ji's matter, but it was not easy to get away with it.
After muttering for a long time, Lao Hu finally organized his words and explained: "Your Excellency, the county magistrate, although these chickens can also eat wheat, there are too many locusts in the field, and they will no longer care about eating wheat!"
In fact, he just wanted to say, "Who would want to be a vegetarian if there is meat to eat?" But this was too straightforward!
Magistrate He was not a fool, and he reacted in an instant. He bowed his hands to Li Zexuan with a look of shame on his face and said, "This subordinate is confused and doesn't think well!"
Li Zexuan waved his hand and said: "It doesn't matter! But as a parent and official of the people, when you know about farming, you must not make a joke about "why not eat minced meat"!"
"Yes! Mr. Hou!"
Magistrate He repeatedly said yes.
Li Zexuan didn't want to say much, and instead said: "Last year, the imperial court launched a policy of reducing taxes on chicken raising. The number of chickens raised by the people in the entire Guanzhong area has greatly increased. I believe Lantian County is not great either! When you go back to County Magistrate, you can do nothing but publish notices and stabilize the situation." In addition to the support of the people, we must also call on the people to drive all their chickens into the fields to eat locusts. In the current disaster, only by uniting as one and uniting can we overcome the locust plague in the shortest possible time!"
Magistrate He raised his hands with a serious look on his face and said: "I obey the order!"
At this time, Li Gang spoke up and said: "Chief, the notices posted everywhere have been drafted. Do you want to take a look first?"
Li Zexuan nodded, and Hu Hanyun, who was sitting next to Li Gang, quickly handed the manuscript in Li Gang's hand to Li Zexuan.
After roughly browsing the contents of the manuscript, Li Zexuan said: "Yeah! It's very complete! Magistrate He, please have someone take the notice to the workshop to have it printed. After stamping it with the official seal, immediately start printing it throughout the county. Post it!”
County Magistrate He took it with both hands and solemnly said: "Yes! Lord Marquis! I am resigning!"
"Master, I'll take my leave too!"
Hu Hanyun, Liu Erye, Liu Qingfeng and others looked at each other and stood up at the same time.
"Um!"
Li Zexuan nodded and said.
Several people hugged their fists and left the conference room together.
Li Zexuan looked at Ma Zhou and said: "Brother Ma, I'll leave it to you for the Datang Daily! After all, this locust plague is not limited to just one county in Lantian County. There are locust plagues in at least dozens of states in Guanzhong! It must be done Through Datang Daily, let the people unite and fight the disaster together!"
Ma Zhou nodded solemnly and said: "Don't worry, Chief, Mr. Ma will go back to the editorial department to mobilize all editors and start taking action immediately. Tomorrow's Datang Daily will definitely have the Chief's good locust control strategy, and tomorrow's news , will definitely dispel most people’s fear of the Locust God!”
"Well! This is the best! Brother Ma, go quickly!"
Li Zexuan nodded and said.
Ma Zhou took the order and left.
Li Zexuan looked at Sun Simiao at this time and said: "Master Sun, you must be aware of the medicinal value of locusts. This time, the Yanhuang Medical Center can use some of the locusts collected by the Lantian County government to make medicines. This is cheap and effective." There must not be many medicinal materials, wouldn’t it be a pity to miss them?”
Sun Simiao nodded and stroked his beard and said: "Xiaoxuan, you are right, Pindao will ask the medical center to send manpower to take over some of the locusts purchased by the county government, and dry them and put them in storage!"
"Yeah! That's good!"
After that, Li Zexuan looked at Li Gang and Yan Silu again and said: "Mr. Wenji, Mr. Kong Gui, I said at the beginning that the purpose of Yanhuang Academy is to establish a heart for the world and to establish a destiny for the people. Now in this critical moment, I think In the name of the mountain chief, he announced that the final exams of the academy are temporarily postponed, and all students in the academy have suspended classes. They will go to various villages in Lantian County in groups to eliminate the people's superstition about the locust god, and lead the people to resist the locust plague and capture the locusts!"
Li Gang and Yan Silu were both people who cared about the common people and had high moral standards. When they heard this, they had no objections and directly raised their hands and said in unison: "Follow the mountain chief's order!"
"Ouch! My Lord Marquis, why are you in Yunshan? It's easy for us to find you!"
At this moment, there was a rush of footsteps and Zhao Song's shouting from the conference room.
Li Zexuan nodded to Li Gang and Yan Silu and said, "You two gentlemen, go and do your own business! It seems that I am going to the palace for a visit!"
The two of them knew like a mirror, knowing that Li Er in the palace was probably anxious and wanted to summon Li Zexuan into the palace, so they left.
Li Zexuan followed him out and said to Zhao Song, who was coming towards him: "Manager Zhao, let's go!"
Zhao Song was stunned for a while and said: "Master Marquis, do you know that His Majesty wants to summon you to the palace?"
Li Zexuan said as he walked: "General Manager Zhao is here in such a hurry, how could Xiao Hou not guess it? The situation in Chang'an must be urgent, let's talk as we walk!"
Hearing this, Zhao Song got what he wanted, and hurriedly chased after him, saying: "Okay! Lord Marquis, please! The fast horses are ready outside!"
The two rode together, rushing down Yunshan Mountain like lightning, towards Chang'an City.
In order to summon Li Zexuan into the palace as soon as possible this time, Zhao Song didn't even bring a single entourage with him. After all, his strength had reached the level of a master, and if he was fast, the little eunuchs in the palace couldn't keep up!
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An engineering geek living in the Tang Dynasty
An engineering geek living in the Tang Dynasty
